hi, everyone, i'm tamron hall. the start of the closing a arguments. with just 116 hours left, both campaigns now up to full speed and pushing the message it hopes will win over undecideds and motivate supporters to turn out. >> most of the very top in this country don't need another champion in washington. they'll always have a seat at the table. >> we don't need the secretary of business to understand business. we need a president who understands business, and i do. >> the president back on the campaign trail for the first time since saturday, hitting three states today. this morning it was wisconsin. right now he's en route to nevada. and later this evening, it is on to colorado. in what advisers call a slightly

altered but affirmative stump speech, the president has promised to lay out his case of who he's fighting for and why. >> retraining at the age of 55 for a career in biotechnology. she needs a champion. >> and these are live pictures now from where governor romney is on the ground in virginia, in the southern part of the state. it is the governor's second event, by the way, of the day there. earlier today in central virginia, the governor resumed his message that he is the change candidate. this election, something he started before the storm. >> if the president were to be re-elected, you're going to see high levels of unemployment continue and stalled wage growth, if any wage growth at all, just like we've seen over the last four years. and we're also getting a look at a new round of battleground polls all showing the president leading or running neck and neck with governor romney.

in iowa the president is ahead six appointments among likely voters. he had an eight-point lead earlier this month. in wisconsin, the score is 49-46. the president's three-point lead there is just within the margin of error. look at new hampshire, the governor romney has cut the president's lead to just two points. the governor was down seven before the debate. let me bring in our political panel for this thursday before election day. nbc news senior political editor, mark murray. "the hill's" amy stoddard and democratic strategist and cnbc contributor keith boykin. mark, let me start with you and look at the map where the candidates are traveling. our colleague, chuck todd, said something this morning regarding polls because we've seen them all over the place. they do have a similar storyline in that governor romney has not been able to pass the president in these battleground states, but he has closed in some. nevertheless, chuck indicates that take a look at the map and where they're traveling. this is going to be -- we already know the states where the race will be won or battle

till the bloody end here? >> what seems to be happening for president obama is that he has a firewall in the midwest or at least his campaign hopes that. actually, the election results come on tuesday might very well hinge on whether that firewall truly exists or not. according to our polls that you just showed in iowa, president obama has a lead. in wisconsin, it's a smaller lead. some other public polls suggest that as well. however, the romney campaign has made it adamantly clear that according to their polls in iowa, the race is dead even. so it really kind of matters where you actually see the race right now. but it's largely going to come down, as chuck pointed out, to the midwest and that's why you'll see president obama campaigning in ohio, wisconsin, iowa a lot these last five days. >> amy, let me bring you in. i know to mark's point, i believe it was one of the romney advisers or a supporter who said i think the word was "crap" when it comes to polls, at least the ones they didn't like to see. nevertheless, you can disagree with the percentage point here or there, but we've not seen a poll where governor romney is

leading in a battleground state. >> no, we haven't. but he feels really good about florida. his team does. i don't think it's a double-digit lead, but they're feeling good about florida. they're feeling good about wisconsin. they think the apparatus in place from the efforts on behalf of scott walker are going to galvanize republicans and make sure that a ground game turns out the vote. the same for mitt romney and paul ryan. they are feeling good about a lot of states where they've closed with the president, if they haven't surpassed him. what they're always hoping, too, tamron is that this is 1980 and that there's going to be a last-minute wave for romney. had they come to the polls, they go, i've really gone back and forth. it's time for something new and that he ends up winning, and maybe it's not by a landslide, but by a very healthy margin. and that's what they're counting on in these final days.

>> keith, let me bring you in. i want to play a little bit of what the director of marist polling had to say about what we're seeing in some of these numbers. let's play it. >> mitt romney's favorable, unfavorable is still upside down in iowa, not in new hampshire or wisconsin. iowa is still maintaining that pattern that we've seen a lot this fall. so it hasn't moved for him. the other thing is iowa is a huge early voting state. and i think if the story of this election ends up being the re-election, if it does of president obama, it's going to be all about the early voting. >> and keith, you know, people are talking a lot about whether or not perceptions of the president, certainly after sandy, seeing him walk around and comfort people helps at all. but when you look at early voting, obviously that was in place before sandy. the president talking today with his new modified stump speech really detailing the folks he's fighting for. he says whether they're in urban area or a rural area, this is what i am fighting for, this very passionate speech as part of his closing argument.

>> yeah, i think you're right, tamron. what president obama has done in the past week with sandy can only help him. you have 78% of the american public thinks he's done a good job. that's republicans and democrats. think he's done a good job in handling the sandy situation. and the hurricane relief efforts. and then you look at the early voting, as was just mentioned a moment ago, the president has a 35-point advantage in early voting in iowa. a 30-point advantage in ohio. i'm down in florida right now in tampa. he has an early voting advantage here in florida as well, a state that's still neck and neck. and he's making a very effective closing argument that's buoyed by the economic news that came out today. we had consumer confidence at a five-year high today, and he 158,000 jobs that were created last month according to the adp report. gm reports an increase in sales, and housing construction numbers are up. all this is good and unemployment numbers are coming out tomorrow which probably show we've had 33 consecutive months of job growth and more than 5.2

million jobs. that's all good news the president can point to in saying we're moving forward, not backwards. >> amy, the political buzz story of the day. on a lot of front pages of blogs and newspapers, you've got this picture of the president and chris christie, both of them praising each other yesterday. let me play a little of the back-and-forth. >> there will be some folks who will criticize me for complimenting him. but you know what? i speak the truth. that's what i always do. sometimes you guys like it. sometimes you don't. sometimes politicians like it. sometimes they don't. but i say what i feel and what i believe. and i'm just doing the same thing with the president of the united states. so i did pinch myself every day. you know, like when i got on marine one, i'm pinching myself, believe me, you know. sandy and bill christie's son on marine was not exactly what i thought was going to be happening with my life. i cannot thank the president enough for his personal concern and compassion for our state and for the people of our state. >> so i just want to thank him

for his extraordinary leadership and partnership. >> so amy, the bottom line is, the hot part of the story today is you've got rush limbaugh and a few other conservatives, they're calling chris christie the greek column. we're not quite sure if that's a reference to the greek columns that so many conservatives like to bring up from the dnc, but nevertheless, he says that chris christie is helping the president's electoral chances and going after chris christie. what do you make of that? >> well, i mean, i'll start by saying i think chris christie genuinely loves being governor of new jersey and wants to be re-elected and wants to do a good job throughout this hurricane. he was once at disneyland in a snowstorm, and he is really trying hard to make sure every resident of the garden state knows that he's working his pants off. he also, you know, has raised a lot of eyebrows for complimenting president obama so effusively. it helps him coordinate efforts between the federal government and his state. it helps him with president obama to be complimentary and to

make sure the president pays, you know, significant attention to new jersey now and in the weeks and months to come. it also helps him with that re-election effort next year in new jersey. it also helps if he wants to run in 2016. >> there are those who say it's self-serving. by calling the man a sellout. because at the end of the day, most of the damage, amy, was in new jersey. do you think that -- >> it's going to help him. >> so you think it's all self-serving. you don't think that he cares about the people of the state? >> no, no, no, no, no. please, please. >> i'm asking. i'm asking. >> i think he genuinely wants to make sure that the rescue effort in new jersey goes as well as humanly possible, and i think he is genuinely concerned about everyone in new jersey. that ends up helping him politically as well. it just so happens he distances himself from mitt romney, should mitt romney lose. it's a better shot at an open election in 2016, that's for sure. but the first thing on board is

to get through this rescue effort. the second thing is to get reelected in 2013. and republicans are making a terrible mistake in this effort they're putting into criticizing. they should ignore this and move on and try to get romney elected. that's not smart politics for them. >> mark, let me bring you in on it because it is curious that one of the hardest-hit areas or many of them are in new jersey. it is not as if the president would refuse to allow fema in or, you know, you've got the secretary of homeland security there, he's not going to say no, chris christie doesn't like me, so i will not allow, you know, any efforts or aid to go into this country. so it's amazing that you're seeing rush limbaugh and some other conservatives attack this. i'm really intrigued by what they think they can get out of it. >> sometimes, tamron, you actually have to put politics aside and give everyone the benefit of the doubt that they're actually trying to dot right thing here. >> i think that. >> it's an election, what

matters more than anything else right now is actually bringing relief, making sure that people that have been devastated get the things that they need and see their government at the local, state and federal level actually working. i would point out, though, of course it's our job to actually talk about politics, it's important to remember that here's chris christie who was the keynote speaker at the republican convention who is praising the president with just five, six days before the election day. and of course, you're not seeing any type of reciprocal situation from mitt romney when a julian castro or michele bachmann are heaping praise on president obama as a first responder. >> is that a fair comparison? in this case we're talking about a natural disaster that just happened. it would seem, again, as the country pulls together and you keep hearing people say that, that mitt romney and republicans, if the effort, if the recovery is going well, would say -- to say that michelle obama's not heaping praise on governor romney's time, his leadership in

massachusetts, isn't that apples and oranges? those aren't the same thing. >> it actually is showing, though, the impact of all the praise that chris christie is heaping upon barack obama and him getting a political benefit from that. >> okay. >> more than just -- actually, probably the better comparison, tamron, is 9/11 after the 9/11 terrorist attacks where democrats and republicans rallied together around george w. bush who had been in the presidency just less than a year after winning a very hotly contested and contentious election. and the country coming together. and we're seeing that to a lesser extent right now play out on the east coast of new jersey and new york. >> thank you so much. i greatly appreciate -- go ahead, i'm sorry, keith, we're almost out of time, i'm sorry. >> i think it also shows the collapse of mitt romney's support mechanism in some ways. not that chris christie's abandoning him, but you also have bob mcdonnell of virginia who praised obama, said the fema response was incredibly quick. and also, you had gm and

chrysler auto executives both coming out and condemning mitt romney. so the people who should naturally be supporting mitt romney in the last week of the campaign, they're actually supporting barack obama. and that's got to hurt. >> all right. thank you so much. i really appreciate y'all coming on. we'll see you in the next few days. thank you. and developing news right now that we just referenced, janet napolitano is on the ground right now in new york city as major problems persist after hurricane sandy. lines two miles long just to get gas. and we're told within the last hour, there's a four-hour traffic jam in the lincoln tunnel. we'll get a live update for you. plus, congressman todd akin was abandoned by the national gop establishment over his, quote, legitimate rape comments. but now akin is putting hundreds of thousands of dollars into a major ad blitz. the question is where is the money coming from? it is just one of the things we thought you should know, and you can joinous conversation on twitter. you can find us @tamronhall and @newsnation.

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developing news right now, janet napolitano is in new york right now to meet with state and local officials and view the ongoing recovery efforts after hurricane sandy. now, the issues, they are sure to address at this point the millions of people still without power. also massive commuter problems today. thousands of people -- take a look at this, looks like ants almost from that vantage point -- stranded by limited public transportation. these are images coming in from earlier today. this is in brooklyn. people trying to get on the bus to come into manhattan. thousands more trying to drive have been stuck in traffic backups up to four hours as they attempt to cross city bridges

and tunnels, those are that open. since this morning, only cars carrying three people or more have been allowed to enter manhattan. residents are also in the grip of a massive fuel crunch brought on by power outages and limited fuel deliveries. people lucky enough to get gas through gas stations, well, they've been facing lines two miles long as well. msnbc's richard lui joins us. there again, another line. what are people telling you there, richard? >> reporter: hey there, tamron. you know what they're saying is when can we get some gas? this line is so long, it is two towns long, it's that far. 60 cars, we walked it earlier today. if you were to try to get in that line, it would take you two hours to get through it. and as you drive, you'd pass by one empty gas station. the reason why they're empty, because they ran out of gas, or they don't have electricity. if they don't have electricity, they can't get gas. i spoke to some of these folks in line earlier. could be three hours now. this is what they told me. >> we need gas because it's

backed up. >> we needed gas. >> it will probably be two, three hours. >> reporter: two or three hours is what you're waiting for? you think you might run out on the way? >> i'll push it. >> my car is stranded over on 69th street. i have no way to get it. everybody around there has no gas. my friend just called me on his way to work and said this guy is open so i jumped on my bike and flew down here. >> reporter: joe valdez bikes almost an hour to this gas station. he had to walk an hour and a halfback three towns over to get back to his car that ran out of gas. i want to show you what's still happening in ridgefield, new jersey. this is the gas tanks and the pricing right now, $3.55, that's about average what we're seeing across new jersey. this is a common sign, cash only. the reason why they're doing that is it's faster. they also make a couple more cents. police have been putting out cones, really common to see in new jersey along with police cars. this station, by the way, they

got 9,000 gallons yesterday, they ran out. tamron, by our estimations, they'll probably run out today, by 10:00 p.m. or so. >> all right, richard lui live for us, thank you. if you would like to help the victims of hurricane sandy, you can logon to nbcnews.com, click on the how to help link for a list of organizations that are accepting donations. you can avoid a lot of the scams that people have been reporting online by going and getting legitimate information there. and tomorrow night, nbc universal is holding a baenefit for the victims. you can watch the telethon live on msnbc 8:00 eastern time tomorrow. and developing right now, governor romney is about to hold a campaign event in virginia. we're going to check in with our reporters covering both the romney campaign and president obama. get you the latest information. what's happening now. plus, the viral video of the little girl who is sick of the campaign. >> i'm tired -- i'm tired of

barack obama and mitt romney. >> that's why you're crying? oh. it will be over soon. >> it went viral late last night. you will not believe how many people have gone on to click to see this kid. it's pretty awesome. it's just one of the things we thought you should know. first, nate silver of "the new york times," blog forecast, november 6th, president obama has a 79% chance of winning re-election. the president will win 300 electoral college votes. governor romney will secure 238. ? anyone have occasional constipation, diarrhea, gas, bloating? yeah. one phillips' colon health probiotic cap each day helps defend against these digestive issues with three strains of good bacteria. approved! [ phillips' lady ] live the regular life.

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i'd like to thank eating right, whole grain, multigrain cheerios! mom, are those my jeans? [ female announcer ] people who choose more whole grain tend to weigh less than those who don't. multigrain cheerios welcome back. mitt romney right now at his second of three campaign rallies in virginia. the governor is spending the entire day in the state. you see the current governor of virginia, bob mcdonnell. garrett hague joins me on the phone from virginia. garrett, we know that mr. romney is back to the -- i guess the

campaign line he unveiled before hurricane sandy that he's the change candidate in this election. obviously, people instantly thinking about the candidate for change four years ago. >> that's right, tamron. it was after sort of a brief pause to focus on hurricane sandy earlier this week. we're back on the main message of the romney campaign right now, which has been underscored in the last few days, this idea that mitt romney is the change candidate. this is a change election. they say the path to victory for governor romney, it's to focus on the people who are unsatisfied with president obama's leadership and say we can bring the change, big change, bold change. he actually used the word "big change" 12 times in a speech the other day. they're trying to hammer this message home to serve many who might be disaffected by the president. hopefully turn some of these blue states like virginia back into the republican column. >> and obviously we know the importance of virginia. he's spending the entire day there. that's an interesting strategy.

we know he's going to hopscotch as well, and i believe the big rally is friday, right, garrett, in ohio, but nevertheless, the entire day in virginia. >> well, a little bit of what you're seeing today in virginia is makeup events after hurricane sandy. the final event tonight will be virginia beach. that was an event they had to scrap as the storm was approaching. i think they'd rather not have to spend an entire day in virginia bp put this more than likely will be one of our last stops in the region in the final five-day sprint. you mentioned friday night in ohio. they're going to kick off this four-day road rally with romney as sort of an alliterative way of focusing on the states. they're folk you cusing the hom in ohio. 100 surrogates will attend. and from there they launch this final four-day sprint. >> all right, garrett, thank you very much, covering the romney campaign. and president obama is scheduled to arrive in nevada from wisconsin in just over an hour from now.

after a campaign event in las vegas, he'll head to colorado. white house correspondent kristen welker is live in las vegas for us. obviously folks have not shown up there yet. the president arriving soon. let's talk about the strategy, hitting up nevada, wisconsin, i believe, was one of the campaign officials who said that wisconsin is in play now because of paul ryan, but they are still fighting it out there. >> reporter: absolutely. it's significant that president obama is stopping in wisconsin. he made a stop there earlier today in green bay really making his final argument, if you will, tamron. all you need to do is look at the president's campaign schedule to know where their priorities are, wisconsin, colorado, you mentioned, nevada and, of course, ohio, ohio, ohio. he will spend the entire day there tomorrow, tamron. of course, this is president obama's firewall. polls show him leading there. no republican has won the presidency without holding on to ohio. president obama knows that he really needs to win the state if

he is to get those 270 electoral votes. so president obama really trying to make up for lost time, tamron, with some of these key swing state voters. as you know, he spent the past three days managing the federal response to sandy. that allowed him to look presidential, of course, but he had to cancel a number of campaign events including in wisconsin. so earlier today in wisconsin, he talked about that issue of romney painting himself as the candidate of change. he basically said that's not the case. he said, look, romney can't be trusted. he's not the candidate of change. is he a candidate who essentially espouses the same policies as george w. bush which president obama has argued is exactly what got the country into the financial mess that it was in during the recession. tamron. >> kristen, speaking of change, the president has modified his stump speech according to david axelrod, a more affirmative tone, but also pointing out the vision of what they say they are fighting for. >> reporter: right. he had this new riff today, if

you will, tamron, basically saying we have more work to do. he laid out what he has accomplished in terms of recovering the auto industry, improving the economy, getting osama bin laden, but also said, look, there's still a lot more work to be done. he repeated that phrase over and over again. essentially saying, give me four more years, and we will continue to get the work done that we started. we expect them to make a similar speech here when he arrives in this key battleground state of nevada. i'm told that eva longoria will be introducing him. she has, of course, been one of his big surrogates. she's helped rally latino voters. that is going to be key if he is to win on tuesday. so we expect him to arrive here shortly and to continue with his closing argument, essentially that he would like four more years to continue what he started. >> kristen, thank you very much. and up next, former new mexico governor and president obama supporter bill richardson will join us live.

how confident is he the president will win? also we'll ask him about a new ad campaign from the romney team. it's airing on spanish language television, tying the president to hugo chavez and fidel castro. plus -- >> new jersey governor chris christie has decided to play the role of a greek column today for president obama. >> so are you surprised by the backlash against governor christie by a few conservatives who accuse him of helping the president's electoral chances? it's our "news nation gut check." be sure to check out our tumblr page. one viewer posted a picture of the manhattan skyline as thousands are without power. take a look closely. one side living in the dark. the other side seeing the light. at 33 years old, i was having a heart attack. now i'm on a bayer aspirin regimen. [ male announcer ] be sure to talk to your doctor before you begin an aspirin regimen. i didn't know this could happen so young. take control, talk to your doctor.

i didn't know this could happen so young. when you lost the thing you can't believe you lost.. when what you just bought, just broke. or when you have a little trouble a long way from home... as an american express cardmember you can expect some help. but what you might not expect, is you can get all this with a prepaid card. spends like cash. feels like membership. our nbc news team reports in the final days of the presidential campaign, ad spending by the two campaigns and outside groups now closing

in on $1 billion. that, by the way, includes a record $143 million spent this week alone. just today the campaigns, by the way, released new ads in battleground states. the president's highlights the endorsement by secretary of state colin powell. >> when he took over, we were in one of the worst recessions we had seen in recent times, close to a depression. and i saw over the next several years stabilization come back in the financial community, housing is starting to pick up. the president saved the auto industry. >> and these are live pictures coming into us from virginia. mitt romney spending the entire day in that battleground state. you see him arriving there for the crowd. in the meantime, as mentioned, he has a new ad focusing on president obama's plan to create a new, quote, secretary of business. >> barack obama says he may appoint a secretary of business. his solution to everything is to add another bureaucrat. why not have a president who actually understands business?

>> and joining me now, nbc news senior political editor, mark murray. mark, we just showed the video of governor romney arriving in virginia. eric cantor there, governor mcdonnell as well. he's about to speak to the crowd. the campaign speech earlier today of both romney and obama, it's interesting how they're tweaking their messages ever so slightly, mark, in this last few days. >> that's right. and mitt romney finally is kind of back on the attack mode. he really toned down a lot of his criticism of president obama on the trail yesterday, particularly as president obama was inspecting all the damage from hurricane sandy. but the argument that mitt romney has been making today and it's what he was doing a week ago and even before that is putting himself as the candidate of change, which is interesting given that that was the mantel that president obama ran on in 2008. mitt romney is trying to take down an incumbent president and running on that change platform. of course, you're hearing the

barbs from the obama campaign, in fact, from president obama himself saying that mitt romney doesn't represent change. >> and we were looking at the ads in this final week. it's interesting because it's not just television. but the radio ad wars as well. >> that's right. what is most interesting about what's going on, you mentioned the $143 million figure being spent on the final week of the presidential contest is that team romney, and that's the romney campaign and all the republican-leaning super groups, they're almost outspending team obama by nearly a 2-1 ratio. so we're actually going to get a sense to see if the super pacs really are able to move the needle in this presidential contest or whether there's already so much ad saturation out there that all these ads that are occurring in the final week of the campaign don't matter all that much, the people who have seen almost every tv ad that you can imagine in ohio, virginia and other battlegrounds. >> all right. mark murray, great pleasure having you on, two times, very

nice, always a pleasure. let me bring in former new mexico governor and president obama supporter, bill richardson. sir, thank you so much for your time. >> thank you. nice to be with you. >> absolutely. so we've got new battleground numbers in. it shows that the race is tight. we've known that. we've said that now for many months and weeks. how do you assess the president's chances? i mean, obviously his campaign quite confident saying that their inside information, their polling indicates that he would pull this thing out next week. >> well, i'm confident, tamron, i'm going to florida tomorrow. early voting rallies in miami and orlando. florida's very much in play. as a westerner, i'm feeling better about nevada and colorado, states very near me here in new mexico. i think the president -- this terrible tragedy that we've had as a nation, i think the president showed enormous leadership, steady leadership, bipartisanship, the work he did

with governor christie. and i think it was a very sincere effort on both parts. i've been a governor. i've had forest fires. the federal government -- and this is what the president has emphasized -- fema has a primary role in these tragedies. you have to have state and local support. but without medicine and funding to help rebuild, this is an extraordinary effort by fema, and the president led. and i think the american people are seeing that. >> and you mentioned florida as well. former president bill clinton making five stops, i believe, there as well. so pulling out all the big guns, if you will. yourself included on that list. i'm curious, though, you talk about out west in your home state, this new romney ad. it was an unannounced ad. but basically it starts off -- it's a spanish language ad. it starts off by saying who supports barack obama? and then it goes on to show the niece of fidel castro, mariel lacaslmariela

castro and shows hugo chavez when he recently said that he would vote for president obama. the obama campaign said mitt romney continues to play chavez's game, giving him the attention that he thrives on that he doesn't deserve. this ad, sir, is being described as a last-minute push to try to win over latino voters. do you believe it would be effective? >> no, it's not going to be effective because it has no factual basis. that relationship with cuba and venezuela is pretty frosty on human rights grounds, on many other grounds. my sense is that what the romney campaign is doing is that's a direct appeal to latino voters in florida which means they're having trouble perhaps with the non-cuban americans that are voting for democrats and possibly a little shift in the cuban-americans, the younger cuban-americans that see president obama as being tough on human rights, increasing visits by cuban-americans. so i think it's a florida ad, but it doesn't have any basis

and fact in terms of foreign policy. >> what do you make of governor romney today picking up on a line that he basically debuted, if you will, right before the storm and the attention went to that crisis, that he is the candidate of change in this race? >> well, i think that that is a very shallow argument, but the last three days, you're going to see enormous amount of messaging. president obama is the candidate of change. he was four years ago. he is now, changing the policies of the past. he's done that in foreign policy. he's doing this with the economy, with his agenda of creating jobs and more teachers and engineering jobs and the middle class out. he's the candidate of change. governor romney is not. but, look, this is a very close race. this is going to go down to the wire. but i feel confident. i see the battleground states

moving our way. but i think it's going to be a long night, tamron, a long night on tuesday. >> governor, it's a great pleasure having you on. i know we will see you that night on some of our coverage, i'm sure. thank you, sir. and we are following developing news from staten island, new york, where there is heartbreaking detail coming out now. crews have recovered the bodies of two young children. they were searching for these children after the hurricane. now they found their bodies. we'll have a live report for you. but first, there is a lot going on today. here are some things we thought you should know. even though many top republicans called for todd akin to drop out after his comments on, quote, legitimate rape, akin is reportedly banking on a new ad blitz to help beat claire mccaskill. his campaign and the state's gop party are spending nearly $700,000 in the remaining days. where's the money coming from is unclear. now, it's one of the most talked-about and tweeted parts

of yesterday's giants' victory parade in san francisco. did you see this? relief pitcher sergio romo's t-shirt which said, quote, i just look illegal. romo's the son of mexican immigrants and was raised in a town just 20 miles north of the mexican border. immigrant activists immediately praised romo for making a statement on racial stereotyping. romo, however, has said nothing publicly about the shirt. maybe it says it all. he doesn't need to say anything. and more than 1.5 million people, yes, 1.5 million have gone on to watch this colorado girl who was apparently pushed over the edge of news coverage she was listening to. abigail evans started crying after hearing an npr report. her mother released this video, and it's gone viral. >> i'm tired -- i'm tired of barack obama and mitt romney. >> that's why you're crying? oh. it will be over soon, abby. >> well, her mom also later released this picture, very different story there.

abby all smiles. in fact, npr gave her an election button and apologized for hurting her feelings. those are the things we just thought you should know. [ male announcer ] are you considering a new medicare plan? then you may be looking for help in choosing the right plan for your needs. so don't wait. call now. whatever your health coverage needs, unitedhealthcare can help you find the right plan.

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auto policies come with new car replacement and accident forgiveness if you qualify. see what else comes standard at libertymutual.com. liberty mutual insurance. responsibility. what's your policy? welcome back. we're following developing news out of staten island in new york. police there have confirmed that the bodies of two young boys swept away by floodwaters have been recovered. they are among the now 19 victims killed as a result of this storm on staten island. msnbc's craig melvin is live for us right now. and craig, obviously, this one -- they're all a loss of life matters, but this being children just breaks your heart in so many ways. >> reporter: tamron, indeed, it does. a 2-year-old and a 4-year-old, his brother, they were -- the

rushing floodwaters swept them away, we're told. that brought the death toll at 17 here on the island, and then we were told a little bit later that an elderly couple had also been found inside their home. the death toll now on staten island, as you mentioned, 19. i want to show you the street behind me. we are in the midland beach neighborhood. and believe it or not, the water here has receded. we've talked to a number of folks who live on this street who have come back. some of them have been able to get into what's left of their homes. many of them have not. three separate families were trapped on the roofs, they told us at one point during the storm. all of them managed to get taken to safety. we're also hearing from a number of people here on staten island who, quite frankly, tamron, have become quite angry. they've become angry with the response. and a number of them have become angry about the fact that not far from there, the new york city marathon still set to take place on sunday.

again, a number of folks here angry. we've met one woman. we hear from one woman now. take a listen. >> people need places to live. they need clothes and food. they need shelter, and you're going to have these children going to school? how are they getting there? how are you getting these kids already in the shelters to the schools that they've got to go to? they have no clothes. how is everything running by monday? what miracle are you going to perform? >> reporter: and again, that's just one woman there. i spoke to congressman michael grimm who represents this part of staten island. he said that this borough has become the forgotten borough. he was very critical, as others have been, of the red cross. he said that the red cross has not been as responsive as they have been in disasters past. we got a statement a short time ago from the red cross. they say that they've got ten vehicles headed from new york city to staten island. they say that one of the

problems has been traffic. traffic, as you know, still bumper to bumper in new york city. but again, folks here becoming very frustrated with the response. the death toll on staten island now at 19. and officials say they expect that number to rise. >> all right, craig, thank you very much. and in hoboken, new jersey, just across the hudson river from new york city, the national guard on location there since yesterday are worried that supplies are now running low. nbc's katy tur is with us. it was a sign of hope for so many people yesterday when the national guard arrived, helping them out. they continue to help, but what's going on with the supply situation? >> reporter: they definitely need more supplies. they're not going to have power for seven to ten days probably there in hoboken. there are a lot of people who will be staying in their homes during that time. so they need food and water. they're pleading for generators or batteries. of course, generators are extraordinarily hard to come by now. even if you have one, the gas lines are so long that it's hard

to fill them up with gas. so they're still dealing with a lot over there in hoboken. it does look a lot different today than it did yesterday. we had water in most areas or a number of areas up to my shin yesterday. today most of the streets are completely clear. what's left now, though, is just a nasty sludge mix of sewage and mud and water and heating oil. they now need to clean that off the streets because that certainly isn't healthy to be around. the water level, though, is still high in basements. six to ten feet in a number of basements around the city. they had 500 million gallons of water, tamron, that they needed to pump out since yesterday. they're about halfway done with that. they're hoping that since they did it all yesterday and since they'll be pumping today, that maybe they'll be done with that tomorrow. one can now see, though, is the waterline, and it's about four feet high in a number of areas. that's what traps people inside their homes for so long. you go outside now and you're looking at the damage.

and it's just pretty remarkable. people are coming out and assessing it, and they're just wondering how they're going to deal with it. again, power not for seven to ten days. so they are worried about the supplies that they need. so they're asking anybody in neighboring towns if they can get there to bring what they can, to help with what they can. and the good news is that you're seeing a lot of people in hoboken that are volunteering right now. you have restaurants who are volunteering the food that they have. they're cooking up plates of rice and beans and fajitas or handing out sandwiches. so you do have a community that's coming together. but you wonder how long that's going to be the case because seven to ten days without power can get extraordinarily frustrating, and people's moods can start to turn pretty quickly. right now, though, things are okay. tamron? >> katy, thank you very much for the latest from hoboken. and new criminal charges in the penn state child sex abuse case tops our look at stories around the "news nation" today. this afternoon prosecutors formally charged graham spanier. he's accused of perjury,

obstruction and conspiracy to cover up accusations against jerry sandusky. moments ago spanier's attorneys blame the charges on pennsylvania governor tom corbett saying the governor has something to hide. new felony charges were also filed against athletic director tim curley and retired vice president gary schultz. right now in kentucky hundreds of residents still evacuated after a chemical fire burning for a second straight day. workers responding to a train derailment accidentally sparked an explosion when using a welding torch. at least three workers suffered serious burns. and next up on "news nation," a lot of you have already sent us tweets regarding this question, but we'll ask it again. you can tell us your thoughts. are you surprised at all by the backlash? a lot of conservatives not happy with governor chris christie for reaching out and shaking the hand of the president, accusing him of effectively helping president obama's electoral chances. it is today's "news nation gut

check." first here's a look at real clear politics' national average of the polls. president obama, governor romney tied, 47%. [ woman ] ring. ring. progresso. i just finished a bowl of your new light chicken pot pie soup and it's so rich and creamy... is it really 100 calories? let me put you on webcan... ...lean roasted chicken... and a creamy broth mmm i can still see you. [ male announcer ] progresso. you gotta taste this soup.

time now for the "news nation gut check." we talked about this earlier. new jersey republican governor chris christie now being criticized by some after his meeting with the president and touring new jersey with the president. radio host rush limbaugh, in fact, called governor christie a, quote, greek column for the obama campaign. governor christie's response to the criticism, quote, i speak the truth. so what does your gut tell you? are you surprised that some are criticizing the governor, particularly republicans and conservatives? go to facebook.com/newsnation to cast that vote. that does it for this edition of "news nation." i'm tamron hall.

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